1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a card transaction settlement method in a point of sale system, afterward referred as POS system, which is capable of using a credit card or a debit card, and more particularly, to the card transaction settlement method in which an actual transaction is made after authorizing an approval before a card transaction ABCT for a virtual transaction amount VTA is given, and in which when the actual transaction is completed, an approval after a card transaction AACT for an actual transaction amount ATA is requested for the transaction settlement whereby the settlement with the card can be conveniently accomplished since any conflict between the merchant and the consumer, caused by the difference between the transaction amount and the debited amount against the card and so on, can be eliminated, and whereby the merchant has less of the financial risk for refund, and whereby the signature is not necessary in the signature form, resulting that true non-cashier self-service sales can be introduced to the sales management system. Herein, the VTA may also be a maximum-available amount, an user-entered amount, or a system-established available amount which is already stored in the POS system at different values, the maximum allowed amount values.
The present invention is not restricted to any particular kind of machine, although it is described below, by way of example, with reference to a self-service gas pump in a gas station.
2. Description of Related Art
In general, the conventional sales management system is made to settle the transaction payment with either the card or cash, and particularly in expensive sales management system, the merchant installs the self-service POS system integrally including the sales management system for controlling the operation of the sales machines according to the result of the approval condition from the card terminal connected through the communication cable either to card issuing institutions or to the value-added network communication enterprise so as to increase the sales. But in such a system, the operator who is able to manipulate the card terminal and sales management machine should stay in the place with the system. U.S. Pat. No. 5,652,786 on May 16, filed by Rogers, 1996 discloses an automated interactive bill payment system for processing payment transactions using debit card numbers without the requirement of a personal identification number.
As an example, FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic view of a self-service gas supplying method with the credit card/debit card settlement when the self-service sales system is applied to the general type gas pump. Referring to FIG. 1, the card holder requests to set the payment amount for the gas to be supplied by giving the credit card or the debit card, the sales clerk asks the consumer to sign in a signature form and sets the payment amount for the gas purchase into the gas pump with the use of the POS system after an acquirement of the card approval for the transaction amount for the current gas purchase settlement with the use of the card terminal. Therefore, the consumer who moved to the gas pump begins to feeding the car with the gas using a nozzle gun 5.
FIG. 2 is a schematic view of the self-service supplying gas method making settlement with either the credit card or the debit card using the self-service POS system in which the card terminal and the POS system are integrated together. Referring now to FIG. 2, the consumer makes the card to be read through the credit card recognition means or the debit card recognition means 2 (or the cash verifier 3) which are installed on an outdoor terminal placed near the gas pump, and then sets either the desired payment amount or the desired gas amount with a plurality of setting keys 1. Then the outdoor terminal automatically acquires the card approval through the serial communication, and prints the payment approval slip with the use of the receipt printer 4, and then sets the approved payment amount onto the gas pump. Thereafter, the consumer moves to the gas pump to feed the car with the gas using the nozzle gun 5 by himself.
FIG. 3 is a schematic view of the self-service gas supply method making a payment with either the credit card or the debit card with the use of the self-service gas supply system comprising a credit card recognition means, a debit card recognition means, a cash verifier, a receipt issuing means, and setting keys. Referring to FIG. 3, the consumer sets either the desired payment amount or the desired gas amount with the use of the setting keys 1 after making the card to be read by the credit card recognition means or the debit card recognition means 3 arranged on the gas pump. Herein, the self-service gas supply system acquires the approval code for the card either via the POS system installed in the office near the gas pump, or with a serial communication in the self-service gas supply system itself, and then sets either the approved payment amount or the approved gas amount. Therefore, the consumer begins to feed the car with the gas with the use of the nozzle gun 5 by himself. When the consumer completed filling up the gas, the self-service gas supplying system prints the receipt with the receipt printer 4. After the consumer receives the receipt, the self-service gas supply process is completed.
With the system described with the FIGS. 1-3, a consumer, who wants to purchase the gas with card payment, should receive the card approval for the transaction before feeding the car with the gas (since the card approval obtained after gas purchase can cause the quarrel between the consumer and the gas station merchant, it is not appropriate for the self-service gas supply). Moreover the consumer should set the payment amount for the gas so as to get the card approval for the amount, but the consumer does not know exactly how much gas can be supplied to the gas tank of his or her vehicle resulting in that the consumer request the card approval for the transaction for the purchase of the gas corresponding to the approximate amount.
It can actually take place that the gas tank of a vehicle is already full when a gas amount for the purchase is not fully supplied to the gas tank, resulting in that the consumer may ask a refund corresponding to the difference between the card transaction amount and the payment amount of a gas amount actually served.
Furthermore, if the consumer wishes to cancel the gas purchase after the card approval for the transaction is already received, it becomes more difficult to handle.
To solve problems described above, the card approval can be obtained after gas purchase. But that would be a big quarrel between the consumer and gas station merchant when the card approval is rejected because of the card invalidity. In a non-cashier self-service gas station in particular, if the gas is filled up before receiving the card approval, there can be some disadvantages described above.
The present invention provides a card transaction settlement method in a POS system enabling acceptance of credit card payment and debit card payment, and more particularly to provide the card transaction settlement method in which the payment by either the credit card or the debit card is made after an approval before a card transaction (ABCT) is given, and in which when the transaction is completed, an approval after a card transaction (AACT) is requested for the transaction settlement whereby the settlement with the card can be conveniently accomplished since a conflict between the merchant and the consumer, causing from such as the difference between the transaction amount and the debited amount against the card, can be eliminated, whereby the merchant has less of the financial risk for a difference amount refund, and whereby the signature is not necessary in the signature form, resulting in that true non-cashier self-service sales can be introduced to the sales management system.
A first embodiment of the present invention provides a card transaction settlement method in POS systems for settling transaction payments with use of a credit card and/or a debit card. An approval before the card transaction ABCT for setting a virtual transaction amount (VTA) is requested from an authorization center after the card is inserted. A transactional validity is determined. This may be done by validating an account corresponding to the card as well as the card itself at the authorization center. If the card and account are valid the VTA may be approved and an approval signal sent to the self-service facility. Based upon the approval, the transaction may be executed. After execution, an approval-after-the-card-transaction (AACT) is requested of the authorization center for setting an actual transaction amount (ATA). The VTA may be revalidated into the ATA and a confirmation signal may be sent. The self-service facility may be reinitialized for a next transaction and a receipt issued for the actual executed transaction.
The VTA may be a maximum anticipated transactional amount. It could be set for a particular one-time transaction. The anticipated amount may be determined by attributes of the item or service to be provided and is particularly relevant for items or service of a type for which a payment amount can not readily be predetermined. The attributes can comprise a physical amount of the item, availability of the item or service and/or a service time.
Prior to requesting the ABCT, the card may be read in the transaction terminal and the user may be identified via a personal identification number. The VTA may be denied if it has been determined that the card or account are invalid in which case an approval failure signal may be sent to the self-service facility. The ABCT may be cancelled at various stages. The execution may be constrained so that the ATA is constrained from exceeding the VTA.
In an example of use of an embodiment of the invention, a customer""s credit card has a credit limit of $1000. He already spent $800 this period, so the available credit is $200. If he goes to a gasoline station, there is an assumption that no car can hold more than $50 of gasoline (the maximum transaction amount). This establishes a candidate VTA. Other factors related to the product, customer consumption patterns, a profile of the particular customer, or the like could be used to establish the candidate VTA. The card is inserted and the card and the related account validated with the authorization center. The VTA is then set to equal the candidate VTA as this is less than the available credit amount. The setting of the VTA temporarily lowers the available credit to $150 which would be relevant if the customer or a co-holder of the account were simultaneously trying to buy $160 of goods on the same credit card account elsewhere. The car, it turns out, only needs $30 of gasoline. After the fill-up is complete, the system deducts $30 (the ATA) from the previously available credit to now be $170.
If, however, the customer had already spent $975, his available credit would be only $25, which is less than the candidate VTA. The VTA would then have been set equal to $25 instead of the candidate VTA. Because the car could take more than $25 in gasoline, the system would automatically stop filling the car once $25 in gasoline has been dispensed (thus the transaction is restrained to prevent the ATA from exceeding the approved VTA).